Homecoming
by inteligencerles
Summary: Claire is in her last year of studying English at University. The events which occured almost a year ago still haunt her every moment. And just when she thought it was over, a new terror meets her. (A/N: set in early October 1999, and I own nothing. All hail Capcom!)
1. Homecoming

Claire walks through the corridors which lead to the lecture hall. She was offered the day off "sick" today, but she didn't accept.

It is the third of October 1999 – the date upon which last year she survived the Raccoon City incident.

She's in the last year at Harvard University, finishing her final exams, and meant to be having the time of her life.

But she couldn't.

The things she saw and went through back in Raccoon had haunted her every minute of every day. She'd been to see a therapist, but he only reminded her of the psycho Ashford siblings back at Rockfort Island, and made her feel as if she was now in their category – crazy and psychotic. She didn't want to be thinking like that, but she couldn't move the thought from her mind.

The only people keeping her sane are Chris and Leon. Leon had been in Raccoon with her, helping her and Sherry get out. And her brother, Chris, is just being a protective older brother. They both tell her that it is normal to feel like she currently does after everything, but she still doesn't believe them.

The worst thing about it all wasn't the monsters, the fear or the lonely prison she was sent to. It was excepting that Steve died, and no matter what Albert Wesker promised her, she knows that he isn't going to come back. And even if Wesker _did_ manage to bring him back, he wouldn't be the same.

The fact that she hadn't heard any word about Sherry bugged her too. Claire had looked after the little girl as much as she could in the situation of Raccoon. The last thing Claire heard about Sherry was just after she'd met up with Leon after getting out of the Ashford Mansion. He said she was fine, but they were under close Special Forces supervision, so she doubted he was telling the complete truth.

Bringing herself back to the present, Claire gets to the lecture hall with a few minutes to spare, and sits in her usual seat. She gets her textbook out, realising that she forgot her folder for notes. Her dorm room is the other side of campus, and decide since it the first time she's forgotten it, the lecturer should let her off.

She looks around the vast space of the lecture hall, with its plush red seats and old-fashioned chalkboard. She realises that there's nobody in there. Not a single soul but her own.

Claire checks her time sheet; she's in the right place at the right time.

_So… where's everybody else? _Claire thinks, panic starting to rise inside her. She gets up from her chair and walks between the rows of silent chairs. She reaches the door, turning the old handle and pulling it open towards her.

She turns down the brightly lit corridor, seeing nobody and hearing nothing. Nonetheless, there is an unsettling feeling of another presence as she looks in to the next classroom. There is nobody in the next classroom, and the door is locked.

_I should try one of the staff rooms, _Claire thought, taking a step back and turning around –

-Only to see her friend Bailey stood behind her. She didn't say anything, looking at her extravagantly high heels and incredibly glamorous clothes.

'Hey Bailey,' Claire says. 'What's going on? Where - ?' she stops abruptly.

She finally notices Bailey's skin is charcoal grey; her tangled hair, and the blank, clouded eyes.

The bite mark on her arm.

The gruesome, wide scratches on her neck.

The crimson blood pouring from both wounds…

And the slight, wheezed groan Bailey gives in answer to her questions.

Claire steps away, trying to not get worried or scared. When she was just over five metres away from Bailey, she started to sprint back towards the lecture hall, taking metre long strides to move as swiftly – however not flexibly – as possible.

She swung the door of the lecture hall open, slamming it shut behind her. She locks the door. Leanng up against the door, Claire takes a deep breath, trying to even her hasty breathing and slow her flying heart.

_Umbrellas are back, and are deadly serious, _Claire thinks, finally realising what has happened.


	2. An Undead Love

Claire takes a few of the spare chairs from the upper right corner of the lecture hall and starts blocking all of the doors. They wouldn't hold long, but long enough for her to think of a plan and possibly a way out.

_But it wasn't simple in Raccoon, was it? _Claire asks herself, remembering all of the puzzles and monsters she had to face to get out of there alive – and she barely managed that. She still has the purple scars on her left calf from where she faced off with the Tyrant prototypes. She was in hospital for days after that!

As she blocks off the doors, Claire puzzles over what could be waiting to get her this time. She was puzzling over how there could be any puzzles in the University. What were they going to be, Quantum Physics?

Claire finished blocking off the second main exit when she heard a voice. She shook her head, knowing that she was just imaging it, and needs to just concentrate on a way out. She could block the fire exit, but she would need to use that to get out. She sits in a random chair, thinking through the Campus layout.

_There are lecture halls two, three and four down this corridor. At the bottom of the corridor, to the right there are lecture halls five and six. There's the athletics field out of the fire exit, and then the rest of the Campus about forty-feet across. I could go that way and see if I can get to the Library…_

'Claire?' The voice she heard earlier asks her name, and she shakes her head again. She closes her eyes, trying not to imagine the person the voice belongs to. 'Claire?' The voice repeats, closer than before. To her right, Claire can hear footsteps - fast but not running - approaching her; from the fire exit.

Claire opens her eyes, seeing the person standing too close to her. She jumps up, moving back away from him. She couldn't stop herself from gasping as she saw that there was nothing different about him.

The bittersweet memories flashed by in her head. When they first met – him shooting at her and thinking she was a zombie. When he was there to save her from Alfred – the cross-dressing freak who was actually no different to his twin sister. When he was almost killed by Alexander Ashford. When she found him in a large room with the giant axe. When he changed into that Veronica virus consumed monster. When he refused to kill her… When he died for her…

'I'm glad that I met you... I... I love you... Claire...'

She can't stand it when he says her name again. She realizes that she has backed all the way to the door. She slides down the wall, grabbing hold of the doorstop near where she sits. He was still coming towards her, and she let the doorstop fall back to the ground. She almost cries out when he reaches out towards her.

'It's ok. It's me. Claire?' He says, his long hair moving over his forehead.

'You're dead…' she whispers in response.

'Actually, I'm not.' His slightly cocky attitude hadn't gone away, that's for sure.

'I saw you die,' Claire says, a tear trickling down her face. 'I saw you take your last breath!' She shouts, not being able to contain her tears anymore.

He crouches next to her, gently wiping her tears from her cheeks. 'It's ok.' He coos, the warmth of his hands making her cheeks blush. He realizes that what he said wasn't right. 'Ok, maybe it's creepy and wrong.' He says, a smile playing on his lips.

Claire can't help the slight tug at the corner of her lips. He hasn't changed! She had feared that he would, but he really hasn't. Not one bit – apart from the fact that he is older. His face is slightly broader, and he is not as skinny. She can't believe how a pretty skinny and not so good looking kid has become so handsome!

Claire takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, the shock just a bit too much. Wesker had obviously kept his promise. He had brought him back to her.

'Steve…' she whispers, taking his face in her hands, wanting to make sure that it's really him. He has the same nose and hair – ironically at the same length. And his eyes! They are the same bright, clear grey she remembers.

She realizes something and lifts the soft, black fabric of his T-shirts. There is a giant red, circular mark about 7inches in diameter. Claire gasped as she looked at his back, seeing the same ragged scar mirrored there. She gently touched it, feeling the rough skin under her light touch, and apologizes as Steve winces in slightly.

'But… how?' Claire asks, looking into his eyes, wanting to know the truth.

'I would like the answer to that myself,' Steve mutters, gently moving her hands away from his scars. 'But right now-'

Claire can't stop herself. She leans forward and hugs him tightly, overwhelmed with the love and joy she feels at seeing him again – the joy of seeing him alive. She smiles gently as he hugs her back, his warm and strong hands enveloping her. She closes her eyes, taking in the love and forever-lasting kindness being given from his warmth.

After another minute, she gently pulls away, only to be pulled into a kiss. His lips touch hers, the warmth of them filling the hole that she forgot she had. She kisses him back, letting her love for him show and sending shivers of pleasure down her spine. This time, he pulls away, with a sudden seriousness in his eyes.

'We'd better go,' Steve says, getting up. 'Those barricades won't hold the doors for long.' He holds his hand out to her, and she lets him help her up. She doesn't let go of his hand until they get out into the carrier filled corridors.


	3. Knowing

Steve walked along side Claire, walking across the field to the main building on campus, where all of the English, maths, History and economics rooms are. In a separate building – to the left of it – there are science rooms and labs. Then around fifty feet from it, are the dorm rooms. All in different buildings, sectioned in different "classes" – the most expensive dorm rooms are closer to campus, whereas the less expensive rooms are further away.

They decided to go to the dorm rooms. Claire wants to see whether her room-mate is still there. According to Claire, she had a day off lessons today with her boyfriend, and they'd both said they'd be in the dorm room all day. And since she's Claire's friend, he's happy to go along with it.

They run across the field, Steve's lungs burning as his body protests. His leg muscles are moving in ways they haven't for a while. He has been in a solitary room for the past year, not able to move around like some dog in a cage. He managed to get some exercise done as his body recuperated – push-ups, sit-ups that sort of thing – but he never went outside the whole time.

He got out a few days ago, finding that he was in one of Umbrellas secret hospitals. He thought he should see if Claire was still alive, and Umbrella had so many files on her and her brother.

He also managed to find something out about the Leon guy she contacted when they were at Rockfort. He is now an agent, from the information he gathered, working for the Government. Somebody at Umbrella must be working in the agency. He has links to Chris, who links to many others due to his work with the Raccoon S.T.A.R.S team who were notorious for their suspension after finding out about Umbrellas work in the Arklay Mountains. Steve had heard about the deaths there and the S.T.A.R.S investigation going south, but he wasn't so sure how it had turned out so badly. He saw that Leon and Chris were linked due to Umbrella having the Chief (Chief Irons Steve recalls) working undercover with their top scientist William Birkin.

Steve figured that this was how the infection started in the Arklay region, and that something must have happened in Umbrella to cause it to occur in the first place. Maybe somebody betrayed Umbrella or the S.T.A.R.S Alpha team. Maybe there was somebody in the Alpha or even the Bravo team who was working for White Umbrella?

Steve had also found out that Umbrella had a sister company White Umbrella. White Umbrella was an extra division that took care of less important things than making viruses. They made everyday products to take any suspicion that might have been aroused off of Umbrellas back. It worked well, until Birkin started working with both divisions of the corporation. He managed to get court by the agents on the operation to retrieve the new G-virus and was killed.

But from what Claire had told her about the monster Birkin became, he has his doubts that he was dead for very long. He was said to have injected himself with the prototype virus. It was also recorded that he was after his twelve year old daughter to impregnate her with a G-virus embryo. _The most disgusting thing I have ever heard, _Steve thinks as he remembers the files he read through.

Anyway, Birkin managed to implant the G-embryo into his daughter – Sherry Birkin – and killed his wife Annette whilst turned by the virus. Sherry is now under the government's observation, undergoing experiments and going in and out of isolation. Somehow, Umbrella has still got somebody on the inside and is observing everything that is involved in the Raccoon City incident, the Rockfort incident and the Arklay Mountains incident, including him and Claire. They can't be too careful.

_I wonder whether Claire knows that she's been under observation by Umbrella… _Steve wonders as they get to the dorm rooms. The building is five floors high, and has a parking lot a t the front. Steve doesn't have enough time to look around the whole place, as there are un-dead creatures coming in from all sides.

They ran straight into the building and started to climb seemingly endless flights of stairs.

Steve had seen that Umbrella had been observing Claire since she got back to America from Rockfort. From what Steve had read, she had gone to countless counselling sessions and doctor appointments, and Umbrella had been there the whole time. Her counsellor's assistant works for Umbrella, her doctor's nurse works for Umbrella, and one of her tutors works for Umbrella. It still disgusts Steve, seeing that they knew everything about her. And that they had scarred her enough to suffer depression!

And as they got to the fifth floor and Claire unlocked a door, he wondered whether her roommate wasn't her roommate at all…


	4. Different People

Claire walks up to the door for her dorm room, leaning against it ready to open the door as soon as Steve got against the opposing wall ready to storm the room. They have to be quick though – there are so many zombies around the campus that there is less chance of escape than on Rockfort.

Claire grabs the door handle and turns it, slow enough for her to catch her breath before going in. She has to not stall long enough for the un-dead on this floor to get to them, but she has to stall for just long enough to prepare for what she might see beyond the squeaking wooden door. She looks over at Steve as he gives her a slight nod, his eyes filled with wonder and compassion. In the moment she take to look at him, she wonders about what he must have gone through, what Umbrella must have done to him over the past nine months, and about how they managed to heel his wound and bring him back from near-death. She knows that Umbrella is a multi-billion dollar company, but where could they have gotten that sort of technology?

But the thing that eats away at her most is what he must have found out. About Chris, Umbrella, Umbrella's sister company, Wesker, Birkin, and even the S.T.A.R.S Teams and the Raccoon Incident. Surely if he escaped, he read up on everything. Or, what he could before having to run. Did he find out anything about her? About the loss of her parents? What happened to Chris? How Sherry and Leon were doing? About what they did to him? Or, even, about how his loss broke her? How the whole Umbrella thing and the reality of the un-dead and other creatures she fought against are real, shattered her?

The fact that he changed quite a lot in that time amazes Claire. From being a 17 year old kid who lost his mother and father at Umbrella's hand, to being an 18 year old man who escaped from the people who took everything from him. She thinks about it for a second, trying to sort through her thoughts. But she doesn't have time.

She is already opening the door.

Time seems to slow as Claire hears the _squeak _and _creak _of the hinges protest and age. Steve goes past her, running into the room and scanning it for anything. He turns back to Claire and nods at her to show that there is nothing in there. She walks in, hearing the door close behind her, causing her to curse and spin round. It had shut on its own.

She hears a cry of horror from behind her, turning to see Steve struggling against a zombie. She doesn't think, and just runs into the creature, taking them both down to the ground. Claire almost gets bitten as they crash into the thinly carpeted floor, and she hears the extremely loud _crack_ and _pop_ of her left shoulder as it comes out of its socket.

_The same shoulder Leon was shot in back in Raccoon._ The thought strikes her so suddenly, she feels winded.

She rolls off the creature, trying to get out of its reach. But Steve's already getting the thing to its feet and dragging it into the en suite. He slams the door shut. Claire slowly stands up and passes Steve one of the dining chairs, watching as he places it against the door handle. He looks back at her for a moment, his eyes filled with concern and empathy.

'Roommate?' he asks, moving away from the door slightly. All Claire can do is nod, sitting on one of the un-made beds. The shock of seeing her roommate like that has put Claire in to a precariously shocked state. She went through worse in Raccoon City and Rockfort. But her roommate Chelsea was the only one she felt close to; the only one she felt like she could talk to. Leon is in a state over 1000km away, and she has no clue where Sherry could be. Everybody else she knew was dead or missing. Claire had wanted so much to move to Washington and see Leon and Sherry, or to Florida to see Chris.

But she has been stuck in Iowa the whole time, not far from the site of Raccoon City in Southern Minnesota. It has been cut off from the rest of the world, and now Umbrella is still investigating the radioactive depths. It seems odd to continue investigating nothing. Claire is slightly puzzled at why they are still looking and why they haven't sent White Umbrella to do their dirty work – they always do. Wesker must be running a pretty tight shift their. Or White umbrella have finally been uncovered.

But if they don't get out of here, she'll never find out. She stops thinking and tries to control her breathing. She has to get them out of here. She need s to go back to the dark place she never thought she'd go back to, just to get them out of this thing. Just like she did back on Rockfort, she had to get them out.

'We should really put that shoulder back in place,' Steve says, sitting down on the bed next to her. _To think, he would have next been so kind when we'd first met, even in the circumstances. _Claire smiles at the thought, and Steve smiles slightly too, happy to finally see her happy at whatever-it-is she's thinking. 'What?'

'Nothing,' Claire smiles further. There's a sudden scraping sound and a blinding pain from her left shoulder. She cries out, but as soon as the pain dulls, she playfully pushes Steve. 'You bastard.' She smiles again.

'We'd better go.' Steve stops smiling and grabs Claire's hand, realising that they have to get out. They run out of the room, leaving the scratching zombie behind in the en suite.


End file.
